Wide News
From recording, broadcast, postproduction and A/V
Sunset Boulevard goes walkabout on Broadway
Already a multi-award winner, the The sell-out London run of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard hit Broadway with the aim of film and live stream the actors outside the theatre as part of the performance. While the performance was already ground-breaking in many respects, following cast members from dressing rooms to the street brough fresh technical challenges.
Sound Designer Adam Fisher and Production Engineer James Melling, rose to the occasion with the use of Sennheiser equipment and expertise, including Fisher’s system of choice, Digital 6000.
Brit Row Smiles on Ally Pally
Comprising Radiohead’s Thom Yorke contributing vocals, guitar, keyboards and bass and Jonny Greenwood on bass, guitar and keyboards, who are joined by Tom Skinner’s drums, keyboards, vocals and modular synthesiser work, The Smile really do know a lot about audio.
‘This band are heavily invested in their sound,’ confirms Britannia Row Productions’ Simon Hodge who serves as both Production Manager and FOH engineer for the live shows The Smile are currently undertaking. ‘There is a lot of sonic language on the records, and they expect this to translate to the live shows.
Polish cultural immersion
Seeking to increase its tourist offering and educate people on the history and culture associated with Poland’s Bieszczady Mountains, the local government wanted to ‘transcend static displays often found in museums, instead creating something more of an experience or can’t-miss destination’. The outcome is the Bieszczady Cultural Heritage Center.
Known locally as Bieszczadzkie Centrum Dziedzictwa Kulturowego, it occupies the site of a former refinery, and includes multimedia rooms, exhibition zones and a concert hall. However, the primary attraction is an audiovisual show exploring multiculturalism, nature, the age of oil and the economic development of the Bieszczady Mountains presented in a virtual reality experience.
Sony Music opens latest 5020 Studio in Madrid
The culmination of an intensive five-month building project, Sony Music’s new 5020 Studio Madrid is open – a four-studio recording complex and creative centre equipped throughout with PMC monitor loudspeakers.
The largest new studio complex to open in Europe in recent years, this is the latest addition to the Sony’s 5020 Studio brand and joins 5020 Studio Miami and 5020 Studio Mexico City. As well as promoting collaboration between Spanish and Latin artists, 5020 Studio Madrid also aims to build cultural and creative bridges between Europe and Latin America.
The RadioPhonic to be offered to modular fans
UK-based modular synthesiser company AJHSynth has been commissioned by Hans Zimmer to custom build The RadioPhonic, a one-of-a-kind supersynth that will take centre stage at a new sound studio being created on the original site of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop at London’s Maida Vale Studios.
The studio is part of a multi-million-pound refurbishment following the sale of the complex to a partnership that includes Zimmer – who has now given the green light to AJHSynth to produce a limited number of further RadioPhonics, the first of which is being launched at Superbooth24 in Berlin,